You Are The Night Time Fear
by NerdDamon
Summary: Post Augustine AU: Nothing is what it seems after Damon Salvatore meets Elena Gilbert on New Year's Eve. #TVDMixing
1. Never knew daylight could be so violent

_**This story was written for the Annual Damon & Elena Holiday Exchange, which I host at TVD Mixing. For more stories by other authors, check out the link on my profile. I answered the prompt posted by suckerfordelena. **_

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><p>The anniversary of Enzo's death wasn't supposed to make the calendar. Damon had turned his humanity off the day that he walked out the door on him, leaving him to burn alive. Enzo should have just been another name on the long list of names of the people that he lost in his undead life.<p>

Damon rolled his eyes, kicking the snow beneath his feet. He had no reason to be back at the college on New Year's Eve; it was practically a ghost town with all of the student population gone for the holidays. He should have been partying in the city, anywhere but here, drinking the night away on blood laced with champagne.

Walking away from campus, Damon felt ridiculous for coming this close to the Augustine lab, but never close enough. It was fine, he didn't need closure- that's what killing off the Whitmore family was for. Standing at the streetlight, Damon looked ahead of him at the woman in white. She looked like an angel, surrounded by snow dressed in a white gown, a matching shawl and flowers scattered in her hair.

"Katherine?" He whispered when she looked his way.

It couldn't be true, he refused to believe it was his long lost love. Katherine was stuck in the tomb, not out and about, dressed like that on New Year's Eve. He shook his head and quickly walked ahead to get a better look of her.

Damon never saw the car coming.

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><p>"Mister, can you hear me?" His angel asked as she cradled his face on her lap.<p>

"You're not real." He gritted out, still whiplashed from being hit by the car.

"You have to call an ambulance!" She shouted as the driver stepped out of the car to look at the damage.

The skidding sounds on the pavement were enough to tell Damon that the driver had gotten back into his car and driven away from the scene.

The angel holding him started crying and he felt her tears wetting his cheeks.

"This isn't real." Damon rambled, looking up at the Katherine lookalike. The shock was wearing off and he could feel his bones again. The impact of the car was only a scratch on his supernaturally strong body.

In a second, Damon was on his feet, grabbing the woman by her throat. "What are you?" He asked angrily.

The woman, very much alive and breathing for the moment, started choking as he held her above the ground. "How are you- Alive. You're alive." He stated as he let her go and stumbled backward in astonishment.

"Don't you think that's what I should be asking you?" She remarked, in between trying to catch her breath. Her back was hunched as she glared at him. "I believe you've suffered a concussion." She continued.

At the sound of an inbound honking car, Damon grabbed the woman by her upper arm, dragging her to the safety of the sidewalk.

"You shouldn't be walking." Her large brown eyes glazed over him in shock.

"I'm fine." Damon replied, turning to leave her. He was too overwhelmed by being around her, he couldn't stand another second of it. She certainly wasn't his Katherine and he didn't want to find out why she looked exactly like her. It was too painful and he was trying to remain numb.

"You are not fine." She ran toward him, this time pulling on his hand. Him being immovable as stone didn't budge as she tried to capture his attention.

"You just got hit by a car." She cried out stubbornly, her bottom lip jutted out as she pouted. "And I don't believe in miracles... You could have internal bleeding."

Damon remained silent, not willing to acknowledge her. He should have ran far away or killed by now.

"Please." She begged. "Don't leave without letting me exam you. I'm a doctor. Well, almost one."

Damon tugged his hand out of hers. "I don't like doctors." He spoke in a low tone, but the fierceness in his voice was enough to make her shiver.

The woman ran as fast she could to stop him and blocked him by standing in front of him. "I won't let you leave-." She started to say but he wasn't going to bother listening to what she was going to say.

"Listen, woman." Damon interrupted her and his stormy, icy blue eyes stared down at her.

"Elena." She offered with a smile, still not moving an inch away from his body.

"What?" He questioned looking down at her.

"My name." She placed both of her hands on his chest and looked up at him. "My name is Elena Gilbert."

"Gilbert?" Damon questioned and slowly his hands covered her wrists in a tight hold. "Any relation to the Gilberts of Mystic Falls..." He trailed off suspiciously.

"Yes." Elena answered slowly, uncertainty obvious in her face.

"That's where I was supposed to be tonight." He lied quickly. "In Mystic Falls."

"Me too, but I missed the bus." She answered looking at their hands which were still clasped on top of his chest.

"Any chance, you believe in coincidences, Miss Elena Gilbert?" Damon asked, his trademark smirk covering his face. He was in a much better mood knowing she was a Gilbert. Tonight didn't have to be a complete waste, she could come in handy in the future or maybe he'd just kill whatever family she had in their hometown.

"You can catch a ride with me." Damon offered. "Since we're both supposed to be there tonight."

"You're a stranger." She accused with wide eyes.

"You didn't have a problem spending time with me two minutes ago." He retorted, holding her hands tighter.

"I thought you were dying." She replied quickly.

"Still could be." Damon joked. "Besides I'm not a stranger, I'm a Salvatore." He explained before finally letting go of her hands. "That's right. I'm a Founding Family member just like yourself."

"Okay." Elena agreed while absently touching her wrists. The skeptical expression on her face couldn't be missed.

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><p>"Were you trying to kill yourself?" Elena asked breaking the silence as she sat next to Damon in his car.<p>

"What?" Damon replied confused.

"You walked right into that car." She explained. "Why would you do that?"

Damon laughed a little, in a dry and snide way. "You have terrible bedside manner."

"Yes, I do." Elena replied, looking down at her lap. "Well, were you?"

"No, I wasn't trying to kill myself." Damon answered, rolling his eyes while his hands remained steady on the wheel. "Why were you at Whitmore?"

Elena shifted uneasily in her seat and Damon heard how her breathing pattern changed. "I told you, I missed my bus." She replied after a pause.

She hadn't really answered his question, but whatever Damon thought, it wasn't as if he cared about her life.

"You're not married." She stated, no doubt after checking his ring finger.

"Neither are you." He retorted flatly, having remembered from holding her hands earlier.

"Girlfriend?"

Damon shook his head. "You?"

"No, I'm not seeing anyone." She replied. "Do you have any siblings?"

Damon's hands tightened their grip on the steering wheel before leaning over to turn on the radio. "One." He answered in a strained voice.

"Same." Elena told him, without having to be asked. "A younger brother."

Same, Damon thought but didn't want to continue their conversation. He didn't want to go through the Salvatore history with her, there were too many chances of slipping up on his back story. He assumed that she knew Zach was dead. Luckily for him, she stopped questioning him, remaining quiet for the rest of the drive, only occasionally humming along to the radio.

"Home sweet home." Damon announced sarcastically as they drove past the welcome sign. "Where am I dropping you off?"

"It's late." Elena remarked, her eyes glanced at the clock on the dashboard. "It'll be Midnight soon."

"Is there your way of saying you wanna kiss me?"

Elena looked away quickly from Damon. "What I meant is- there's no point in showing up at the dance. It's almost over." She took a breath and gave Damon the instructions to her childhood home.

"Do you want to come in?" Elena asked as Damon pulled up to the curb.

"I thought you didn't want to kiss me." Damon replied as he scanned her over.

"I never said that." Elena replied with a cheeky smile before bolting out of his car and walking quickly to her front door, sparing a single glance back at Damon.

This was too easy, Damon thought after locking his car and walking up to the Gilbert porch. He fleetingly wondered if her words warranted an invitation into the house and found out under a minute later that he was able to pass the threshold.

Walking in, Damon scanned the photos of her family across the bannister of the fireplace. From the looks of it, Elena's father was also a doctor. He wouldn't be surprised if her old man was working with the Augustine project. It was no doubt that the Gilbert family still hated vampires and now Damon had an invitation into their bedrooms.

Turning as he sensed movement behind him, she stood completely still, staring at him with apprehensive eyes. Honestly, he wasn't sure how well he could read the young woman. She seemed so headstrong and so naive at the same time. Her behavior was just as baffling as her identical appearance to the only woman that he ever loved. He waited for her to say something, but she never did, not budging from her stance with her hands held behind her back.

"Your father is a doctor." He commented, motioning at the pictures behind him.

Elena nodded, unfortunately not saying anything else. She still had that eerie look on her face, he thought.

"What about your mother?" He questioned. He hadn't seen a photo of the woman anywhere.

"Dead." Elena's voice was hollow; she was used to repeating the answer so many times that the word no longer held meaning.

"Mine too-." Damon started to say before crippling over in excruciating pain. Damon looked up at Elena in shock as she shot him again.

"Vervain." He groaned, touching the wounds on his chest.

Elena was breathing heavily as she waited for him to pass out. She kicked him hard once, making sure that he was unconscious before cuffing him to drag him to the basement.

**To Be Continued... Hope you're enjoying it so far. Let me know!**


	2. A revelation in the light of day

Two hours later, Damon's face felt heavy as did every bone in his body. He struggled to open his eyes and figure out what was happening to him. He hadn't remembered that Elena had shot him in her living room.

_'Pick yourself up, soldier.'_ Enzo approached him in a mental vision of flashing memories. It hurt Damon to think of his friend. It'd been a long time, since he could flashback to his incarceration. He spent so many years burying those five or so years and now his walls were breaking down. He hated feeling this fragile. Life was easier as uncaring predator. Damon snarled loudly, trying to break free from the chains that held his body against a brick wall.

Damon had no idea where he was.

"You- You had me fooled." Damon gritted out as he noticed Elena sitting in the corner. Gone was her ballroom outfit in white, instead she was dressed in all black pants suit; a stark contrast from when he had met her. She was no angel.

"I can't believe I was right." Elena replied, appraising him with narrowed eyes.

Damon growled, attempting to break the chains again but it was futile. He was too weak from the Vervain that she had dosed him with.

"Show me." She ordered as she reloaded her gun.

Damon only growled in answer to her. He didn't know what she wanted, only that she wanted to hurt him.

"Show me your real face." She repeated, pointing the gun at his chest.

Damon scoffed at her request. "You want to see what a real monster looks like? Look in the mirror."

Elena didn't hesitate to shoot him and Damon groaned in excruciating pain- Vervain was such a bitch- yet he continued to taunt her. "Or take a look at your _father_." He added and tried to charge at her, even though he knew the chains would continue to hold him back.

"You're not afraid to die." She assessed seriously as if he'd confirm a question that been on her mind since the night began.

"It's better than spending more than one minute with you." He called out, seemingly apathetic as she walked away, leaving him in the basement alone. His mind continued to repeat the events of their night together as he was left alone to stew in self-loathing for being so foolish. Elena looking like Katherine only added insult to injury of being recaptured by his sick tormentors.

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><p>When what could have been hours or days passed, Elena finally returned to the basement and the light from upstairs forced Damon to open his eyes. His senses felt like they were on fire. He was malnourished and feeling overemotional because of it.<p>

"What am I still doing here?" He asked annoyed. "Wasn't daddy dearest supposed to pick me up?"

"I don't need him." She replied, brows furrowing and she crossed her arms.

"Great plan." He muttered.

"What are you talking about?"

"If you're going to torture me, get on with it."

"I'm not going to torture you." Elena retorted, scrunching her nose at the idea. Apparently, she was too good to torture someone despite leaving him out to dry.

"You probably work for them." Damon cursed, disbelieving of his stupidity and looked up at the ceiling; praying to a God that wouldn't listen to his damned soul.

"Your father is an Augustine, isn't he?" He accused with a clenched jaw. He was rightfully furious, considering the years of hell the organization put him through and Enzo as well. Oh, Enzo, he thought depressed once again about his only friend.

"Yes." Elena replied in a soft voice. "How did you know that?"

"Lucky guess." Damon replied and pulled on his chains as if that action would answer her curious eyes.

"You were a captive." Elena stated, evidently in shock as she gasped. "And you escaped."

"Not like it makes a damn difference now." Damon scoffed, not meeting her eyes. Elena didn't deserve to wear Katherine's face. "You're probably already waiting for someone to pick me up."

Elena didn't confirm or deny his suspicions. She simply stared at him. Her stare was haunting as if she could see his every desire.

"I don't remember you from the last time that I was there." Damon spat. "But what do I know? It's hard to be sure of things when you're missing parts of your brain or both your eyeballs."

"I am not an Augustine." Elena replied in an even voice, holding her head high and proud.

"Well, you're well on your way, sweetheart." Damon retorted, knowing she was no better than the rest of them. "Only a matter of time before you're the one holding the scalpel. Some doctor you'll be."

"You're a vampire." Elena stated and the word sounded dirty on her lips. "I had to protect the town."

"Save me the speech, Gilbert." Damon rolled his eyes. He honestly didn't need to hear it from another generation. All Gilberts were the same, which was why he was berating himself for driving her to Mystic Falls in the first place.

"How old are you? Exactly?" Elena asked inching closer to him. The girl had guts, he had to admit.

"Thought you already figured that one out, Sherlock."

Elena shook her head, not at all amused by his sarcasm. "There's no way I could."

"How did you know, anyway?" Damon asked seriously.

"I wasn't sure. Not truly." Elena admitted in a soft voice with a head tilt as she studied him. Her eyes were trying to pick out what made him a vampire instead of a human like her. "I just went with my gut feeling. You were too... Unusual." She settled on saying.

"What would have you done if you had shot a human instead?" He raised an eyebrow, honestly curious and waited for her answer.

"Good thing I didn't." She replied with a shrug, apparently she hadn't worried about being wrong. Again, the girl had guts.

"Why didn't you kill me?" Elena asked after a pause.

"- because we were having fun." Damon replied, telling the truth and shocking himself. _Fun?_ He repeated in his head, well, he did want to toy with her. He just never expected to become the hunted in this arrangement. This was not the way things were supposed to work, at least not at his age.

"You would have known better if you had tried to compel me." She informed him in a flat voice. "I drink Vervain."

"I wanted it to be real." He whispered, staring at her but she didn't move an inch, still standing fairly close to him. "But none of it was." He added snidely.

"Are you trying to get me to feel 'sorry' for you?" Elena asked with a disbelieving look. "You're a killer. Nothing more or less. An abomination."

"And you're the daughter of a torturer." He snapped back.

"Stop saying that." Elena replied, much too quickly. Perhaps he was getting under her skin after all.

"What? Don't like hearing the truth?" Damon glared. "When your father gets me back, someone is going to cut into me, again and again until there's nothing left of me. Then they'll repeat the process the very next chance they get. These sons of bitches do it every day until they can't."

"Stop." Elena warned. Her right hand went to the gun stashed in the pocket of her black slacks.

"What did you think happens to vampires that end up in Augustine?" Damon continued.

"I don't care what happens to them." Elena answered as she held her loaded gun up and pointed it at Damon's chest.

Damon could see the sincere doubt in her eyes and it gave him hope. "Then why is your hand shaking?" Damon asked, observing the subtle up and down moment of the barrel. It was barely noticeable to the human eye, but of course, he wasn't human.

Elena swallowed thickly before putting her hand down and left him alone for another 12 hours.

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><p>"Why am I still here?" Damon groaned when Elena returned to the basement.<p>

"I'm curious." She said simply.

Damon glared at her. He was starving and could barely move anymore. He hated himself more than ever for being unable to numb out what he was feeling. He blamed Elena for all of it; her and her stupid face.

"I want to know how it works." Elena continued with a head tilt as she carefully studied him. She was always studying him, but it was no use. Being a vampire had a lot more to do than eternal stud looks. "Why did you become a vampire?"

"You say that as if I had a choice in matter?" Damon closed his eyes, remembering how he told Enzo that he had never met another woman like Katherine. The irony was killing him; possibly in the literal sense.

"Did you?" Elena pushed on.

"Why are you asking?" Damon looked up at the ceiling. There were no words in any language for the frustration that he felt.

"Tell me." She egged on.

"What's in it for me? You'll shoot me anyway."

As a measure of good faith, Elena removed the Vervain-filled bullets from her gun and kicked it aside on the basement's floor. Elena's action didn't prove anything to Damon, but she still looked at him with an expectant expression.

"I did it for the love of a woman. Isn't that what it always comes down to?" Damon sighed. "She was beautiful, a lot like you in that department. She was also very complicated and selfish. And at times not very kind, but very sexy and seductive."

"She was a vampire." Elena deduced and nodded. There was no expression on her face. "You wanted to be with her forever."

Damon looked away, feeling more than he ever wanted to. He couldn't stop thinking about the first time that he went hunting with Katherine.

"A vampire is not capable of love. You were a foolish man." Elena replied finally, no matter how shaken she started to look. She was having a hard time denying the shimmering nostalgia in his icy blue eyes; they were the lightest color in the dark, damp room.

"We feel everything you do." Damon corrected her, he was absolutely reeling from her words. "Only worse than you could ever fathom."

"_Compassion_? _Remorse_?" Elena asked, barely making out a question with her lips, but he heard her.

Damon rolled his eyes in an exaggerated manner. "If I wanted to. Yeah. Yeah, I could feel those things too."

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><p>"Stefan Salvatore?" Elena questioned after another 48 hours had passed. There was still no sign of Dr. Grayson Gilbert or any other sounds in the house.<p>

"He was your brother and you became a vampire with him." She added. "Around the time of the Civil War?"

The little movement from Damon was enough to give him away. It no longer mattered if he verbally confirmed his identity or not. She had tracked down his former life.

"It was all an act." Elena squinted as she took a seat on the stool in front of him, teasingly out of his reach. "You were lying."

"What are you on about?"

"You turned to be with your brother forever, not for a woman."

Elena's wrong deduction caused a genuine pitying laugh from Damon.

"Wrong." He drawled out. "He was in love with her also. Wanted to be with her forever just like me."

Elena closed and opened her mouth at the scandalous idea while picturing it in her head. It unsettled her. Damon could only imagine the thoughts she was having about him. It gave him joy to break through her polished veneer.

"Someone's been reading the family journals..." Damon trailed off with a snicker, wondering how many she had to read to learn about him. "Too bad John Gilbert knew nothing about real vampires to do any good. He was a real nut."

"He knew enough." She protested with a scowl, obviously defensive about the Gilbert name.

"What happened to your brother?" She asked, her curiosity returned full force.

"Family's overrated." Damon snapped. There was no way he was having that conversation with her.

_Was Damon still pissed that Stefan never once looked for him?_ He had ever right to be. Even more mad that Stefan had no idea he was currently imprisoned in the suburbs of Mystic Falls. What hurt the most, the very most, was knowing if their situation was reversed, Damon would have rescued his little brother. Damon always kept tabs on Stefan's whereabouts, but it made no difference. His baby brother didn't love him.

"Did someone stake Stefan?" Elena attempted to continue, but Damon interrupted her with a scathing glare.

"Here's a story about my family that your journals won't tell you. My own flesh and blood sold me out." He remarked, his lip curled up in anger. "Zach Salvatore is the one that handed me over to the Augustine project."

Both of Elena's eyebrows raised in reaction to his confession. "I didn't know that, but that makes sense." She answered after a pause.

"Were you coming to Mystic Falls to kill him? Is that what you wanted here, revenge?"

"Already done." Damon replied dryly and Elena looked disgusted.

"Don't give me that look." He retorted. "You would have done the same thing. It was purely an act of self-defense."

"Oh, sure. Self-defense." Elena shook her head as she stood up and Damon noticed the shivers running down her body.

"Awe, don't tell me that story time with the big bad vampire is over." Damon mocked as she walked upstairs.

"I was just getting started." He called out as she slammed the door and locked it.

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><p><em><strong>One more chapter? Two more chapters? <strong>_

_**Not sure, let me know how you're feeling the fic in your review? It's been so long since I wrote brand new Damon/Elena.**_


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